Sergio Conceição reportedly interested in becoming next Newcastle United manager

Sergio Conceição is interested in the vacant Newcastle United job, according to reports from England.

According to Sky Sports, the Portuguese coach, who has been in charge of Porto for two seasons and won the Primeira Liga in 2018, is keen to be the successor of Rafa Benitez, and would fit the profile of Newcastle United.

Conceição has had an impressive time while manager of Porto, bringing out the best in players that were previously performing below expectations under Nuno Espirito Santo, and many players have had highly complimentary words to say about the former Nantes manager.

Moussa Marega has been a striker that has been particularly impressive under the stewardship of the 44-year old - and he would be a name that could potentially follow Conceicao to England.

How did he and Porto perform last year?

Conceição yet again showed his managerial prowess last season, navigating impressive showings in all four competitions that his side took part in - but ultimately it was a season of so near yet so far.

While Porto won the league last year, they couldn’t retain the biggest prize Portuguese football has to offer, and instead finished as runners-up, missing out to arch-rivals Benfica, who finished 2 points ahead.

That becomes more disappointing when you think that Porto were well ahead of their opponents midway through the season, at one point building a 6 point lead at the top of the table.

They also got to the final of BOTH the Portuguese League Cup and the Portuguese Cup - but in both they ultimately lost to Sporting, on both occasions on penalties.

Their run to the Champions League quarter final was really impressive, although the fact they were eventually dismantled by Liverpool over both legs took the gloss off the achievement.

Sergio Conceicao. Photo author: Елена Рыбакова. License link.